As much fun as it is to race around in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe it can take a seriously long time to unlock all those kart options through traditional means, and certainly if you ploughed through the original Wii U version you might think doing so sounds a lot like needless busywork.

Well, thankfully there's a clever little way to get as many coins as you like without having to do any more than mash the 'A' button every few minutes, leaving you free to indulge in whatever other entertainment you might with to engage in. All the details you'll need for this technique we've dubbed 'Smart Farming' can be found in the video above.

How To Farm Coins In Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

First, select 'Multiplayer' and then 'Vs. Race' (you don't want CPU racers messing things up).

Pick your karter and kart and enable Smart Steering and Auto-Acceleration but NOT motion control for both characters.

Select a 200cc Grand Prix with the following options:

  • No Teams
  • No Items
  • No CPU
  • All Vehicles
  • Courses set to 'Choose'
  • 48 Races
200cc Grand Prix
Image: Nintendo Life

With these settings the two racers will pilot themselves around your chosen course collecting coins as they go.

After much testing, we can confirm that the best course to select is Moo Moo Meadows. It has fewest obstacles and turns in the highest yield of coins compared to its relatively short length than any other course — an average of 9.8 coins per race, we found (remember, 10 is the limit per racer per race).

And that's it! Between races you'll have to select the course again, obviously, but as the race is on you're free to relax with a book or peruse your favourite Nintendo website for lots of lovely Nintendo-related content while your racers collect coins on your behalf. Mint.


This article is part of our Mario Kart 8 Deluxe guide series, featuring tips, hints, tricks and unlocks for the best kart racing game on Switch. You can find the Full Character Roster, every course in the game, including the DLC tracks, and How To Download And Access the DLC itself.

We also explain How To Build The Best Kart, How To Unlock All Gold Mario And All Gold Kart Parts, How To Avoid Blue Shells, How To Farm Infinite Coins, How To Drift, Slipstream, And Boost, and How To Get A Rocket Start, as well as Explain And Rank Every Item, list every every compatible amiibo and unlockable Mii Costumes, explore The Difference Between 'All Items' And 'Frantic Items', plus give an in-depth explanation of All Control Options And Assists and How To Turn Automatic Steering On And Off.